Government allocates 1,695 international rights to Indian airlines

NEW DELHI: Indians are set to have a wider choice of foreign destinations to fly to as the government has opened up several new international sectors granting rights to domestic carriers for next three seasons - until winter of 2013.

For the first time, Indian airlines will fly to destinations like Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Sydney, Melbourne, Nairobi, Iraq and Tashkent.

"Increase in number of international flights will also enhance competitiveness among airlines and is expected to bring down fares benefitting passengers. Further, advance approval for the next three seasons will help airlines to plan their schedules in time," an official government release said.

The new allocations are expected to give a major boost to Indian carriers and spur growth of the Indian civil aviation sector as a whole by improving connectivity of Indian cities with international destinations.

Air India has been granted rights on Delhi-Rome-Madrid/Barcelona; Delhi-Moscow; Delhi-Sydney/Melbourne; Mumbai-Nairobi, Mumbai-Al Najaf (Iraq) for the first time.

This seems to be a reversal of the aviation ministry's earlier stance of not giving any more rights to Gulf carriers as they sweep away Indian traffic hampering domestic carriers' business.

Officials were earlier of the view that if one Gulf carrier is given more seats others would also come knocking at the door for more seats, given that the route between Indian and Gulf countries is one of the most profitable for airline operations. No wonder that Jet, SpiceJet and IndiGo have made a beeline to fly on destinations between Indian and Gulf region.

Gulf-based airlines like Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are carrying a bulk of Indian passengers to their cities like Dubai and providing them onward connections to Europe and the Americas, hurting domestic carriers.

The ministry officials feel this is not fair and they have indicated in the past that Gulf carriers have 7-8 points of call in India whereas Indian airlines have just one or two in these countries.